# Now That Peter Falk And James Garner Are Both Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355 "2014-09-03T13:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/41 "2014-09-05T15:40:15Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > There is obviously a lapse in communication here. Apparently, we do. I explained what I meant by stilted walking. It’s obvious when you watch Webb walk as Friday. And I gave an example of a sanctimonious sermon. The quoted diatribe - plus many others on the linked page - about how cops can’t enjoy parties, have to work late, have to count pennies, have to deal with pillheads, etc., etc. is certainly sanctimonious in my eyes. Communication is a two-way street, and your cryptic, smartass one-liners aren’t communicating much to me. Well, they are, but not on topic. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/42 "2014-09-05T16:09:35Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Apparently, we do. I explained what I meant by stilted walking. It’s obvious when you watch Webb walk as Friday. And I gave an example of a sanctimonious sermon. The quoted diatribe - plus many others on the linked page - about how cops can’t enjoy parties, have to work late, have to count pennies, have to deal with pillheads, etc., etc. is certainly sanctimonious in my eyes. > > Communication is a two-way street, and your cryptic, smartass one-liners aren’t communicating much to me. Well, they are, but not on topic. I said I don’t pay attention to the way people walk unless they have some physical abnormality. As for what is "sanctimonious " in your eyes, take it up with your ophthalmologist. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/43 "2014-09-05T16:19:46Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I said I don’t pay attention to the way people walk unless they have some physical abnormality. As for what is "sanctimonious " in your eyes, take it up with your ophthalmologist. No, seriously, you do. Because Jack Webb is notable as perhaps the most sanctimonious supporter of LAW AND ORDER ever. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie with Dan Ackroyd as Friday and Tom Hanks as his new partner, but Hanks spends half the movie trying not to laugh out loud at Ackroyd’s uncritical pronouncements on right and wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/44 "2014-09-05T16:36:48Z")
Search on “Jack Webb Sanctimonious”. You’ll see some interesting results. Apparently everyone associated with Dragnet was sanctimonious, Webb, the Friday character, the bad guys, and even the real cops the concept was modelled on. No surprise, I’d use “sanctimonious” to describe the Dragnet universe. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/45 "2014-09-05T16:50:46Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > No, seriously, you do. Because Jack Webb is notable as perhaps the most sanctimonious supporter of LAW AND ORDER ever. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie with Dan Ackroyd as Friday and Tom Hanks as his new partner, but Hanks spends half the movie trying not to laugh out loud at Ackroyd’s uncritical pronouncements on right and wrong. As far as I am concerned, casting Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday is like casting John Wayne as Genghis Khan or Adolf Hitler as Simon Wiesenthal. I have vague memories of what little I saw of \* The Blues Brothers \* ( the scene at the end) and I think of their “Mission from God” as flying an airliner into a skyscraper. I refuse to watch Aykroyd do anything. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/46 "2014-09-05T16:56:48Z")
Oh… One more thing … ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/47 "2014-09-05T17:39:54Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > As far as I am concerned, casting Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday is like casting John Wayne as Genghis Khan or Adolf Hitler as Simon Wiesenthal. I have vague memories of what little I saw of \* The Blues Brothers \* ( the scene at the end) and I think of their “Mission from God” as flying an airliner into a skyscraper. I refuse to watch Aykroyd do anything. What the bloody hell? They were raising funds to save the orphanage where they grew-up. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/48 "2014-09-05T18:45:49Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > What the bloody hell? > They were raising funds to save the orphanage where they grew-up. And that, of course, justifies doing a Kristallnacht on a shopping mall. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/49 "2014-09-05T19:00:16Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I have vague memories of what little I saw of \* The Blues Brothers \* ( the scene at the end) and I think of their “Mission from God” as flying an airliner into a skyscraper. The movie wasn’t just “written” as they went along, it was filmed around (real-life) episodes of Belushi’s drug abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/50 "2014-09-05T19:30:34Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And that, of course, justifies doing a Kristallnacht on a shopping mall. :rolleyes: Bad analogy; the Blues Brothers were very explicitly anti-Nazi. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/51 "2014-09-05T19:35:15Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And that, of course, justifies doing a Kristallnacht on a shopping mall. :rolleyes: Clearly they are religious extremist that drove into the mall to destroy Jewish business and drive them out of Chicago. Very astute of you to notice. And the Nazis that were chasing them were just trying to catch-up to help in their crusade? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/52 "2014-09-05T19:36:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Bad analogy; the Blues Brothers were very explicitly anti-Nazi. Except when it comes to wrecking other people’s property, of course. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/53 "2014-09-05T19:42:26Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Except when it comes to wrecking other people’s property, of course. And creating mountains of broken glass. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/54 "2014-09-05T19:52:35Z")
Well Jake had been in prison, had to join one of the gangs to survive. ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/55 "2014-09-05T20:22:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Bad analogy; the Blues Brothers were very explicitly anti-Nazi. Illinois Nazis in particular. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/56 "2014-09-05T21:18:01Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > That’s setting the bar pretty darn low! Name a TV character, who had a car at all, who didn’t have a cooler car than Columbo’s! Hutch! > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > As far as I am concerned, casting Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday is like casting John Wayne as Genghis Khan or Adolf Hitler as Simon Wiesenthal. … I refuse to watch Aykroyd do anything. You’re missing out on some funny shit, then. Aykroyd is _hilarious_ as Joe Friday. The little speech he gives to Christopher Plummer in the men’s room is simply awesome! Hell, that movie was so funny, _my dad liked it!_ Give it a chance. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/57 "2014-09-05T22:59:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Hutch! > > […] You don’t listen, do you? I’d rather be deaf and blind. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/58 "2014-09-05T23:50:45Z")
I’m Starsky, HE’S Hutch! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/59 "2014-09-05T23:54:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I vote for Columbo > I may be biased by Peter Falk love, though - from _Wings of Desire_ to _Princess Bride_, he’s been in films I absolutely love. What about _The Inlaws_? Who possibly could have done that role better than Peter Falk, keeping the audience on the edge of doubt for the whole movie? James Garner was pretty darn good in almost everything he did, from _Cash McCall_ through _Hail to the Chief_, but like Peter Falk, his acting range was somewhat limited, from what I have seen. They were both good for what they were good for, but I cannot think of roles in which either was asked to stretch. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/60 "2014-09-06T02:21:59Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > You don’t listen, do you? > I’d rather be deaf and blind. Chill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355.md?page=4)